* “Nationalism is a betrayal of patriotism.”–French President Emmanuel Macron.
* “Europe refuses to allow the U.S. to be the trade policeman of the world.”–French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire.
* “The honeymoon is well and truly over. Trump’s visible contempt for allies over trade and the Iran nuclear deal are humiliating for (French President Emmanuel) Macron. … Trump’s actions have shown that … it is dangerous for any political leader to tie his reputation to the mercurial mood swings of the American president.”–Mark Leonard, director of the European Council on Foreign Relations.
* “They’re apprehensive. They’re wondering what President Trump will do next. He’s already shown his contempt for European leaders, he’s threatened to pull out of NATO, he’s friendlier with Putin. The mood is certainly one of apprehension, dislike, worry.”–Margaret MacMillan, the author of “Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World.”
* “Sanctions are the perfect tool for someone like President Trump, who arrived into office with no governing experience and no real relationships in Congress, the bureaucracy or among world leaders. Sanctions let him govern on his own. He just has to write an executive order, and it’s done.”–Adam M. Smith, former senior sanctions official and director of multilateral affairs on the Obama Administration’s National Security Council.
* “Democrats need a focused agenda of quickly actionable items for the first 100 days. After that, they will have at least another 630 days in control of the House–and plenty of time for investigations.”–Ronald Klain, Washington Post.
* “As President Trump continues to accelerate his lawlessness, the new Democratic House majority must initiate impeachment proceedings against him as soon as it takes office in January.”–Tom Steyer, founder of NextGen America and Need to Impeach.
* “(Acting Attorney General Matthew) Whitaker’s public record of aggressive hostility to the Mueller probe disqualifies him from overseeing it. If he does not recuse himself from the role, the Democratic House should immediately move to impeach him. The Senate isn’t likely to convict, but let Republicans own this fiasco.”–Brett Stephens, New York Times.
* “Trump does not do what normal politicians do; his instincts are those of an autocrat. Expect him to hew more to the right–into more conspiracy theories and false threats. And he’ll take real actions on them, with costs to the country and the world.”–Allen Green, chairman of the Stetson University economics department.
* “The tax cuts juiced earnings this year and that’s not sustainable. The market’s starting to say that the glass may be half empty.”–Alec Young, managing director of global markets research at FTSE Russell.
* “(Trump’s) an intentional liar. It’s very different from just being a liar liar.”–Former Trump White House press manager Anthony Scaramucci.
* “MSNBC is awash in nostalgia for Ronald Reagan and W.”–Maureen Dowd, New York Times.
* “Research is endlessly seductive, but writing is hard.”–The late, Pulitzer Prize-winning author and historian Barbara Tuchman.
* “I will not sit idly by while unethical liberals try to steal this election from the great people of Florida.”–Gov. Rick Scott.
* “The recounts will be nationally watched; (they’re) under a microscope.”–Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner.
* “I think what the history of recounting has indicated is that on the whole, the errors that are unearthed in recounting are innocent errors, and they kind of balance out.”–Charles Stewart III, professor of political science at MIT.
* “The real question is implementation.”–Darryl Paulson, professor emeritus of government at USF St. Pete, on the passage of Amendment 4 that restores former felon voting rights.
* “I want to presume the Legislature and the newly elected governor are going to respect the clear wishes of the people. And that is to automatically restore the rights of voters.”–Howard Simon, executive director of the ACLU of Florida.
* “The spread (of hepatitis A) is intimately linked to the opioid crisis. The biggest factors to this spread are IV drug use and homelessness. And now, we’re seeing this spill over into restaurants.”–Jill Roberts, professor of microbiology and environmental health at USF.
* “The same company in Tampa Bay is probably valued at 20 percent of what it would be in Silicon Valley. So the prices here and the valuations of companies are much more reasonable.”–Lightning owner Jeff Vinik, in speaking at the recent innovation summit in Tampa.